Meet Emily Songster | Piano/Trombone Teacher

We had the good fortune of connecting with Emily Songster and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Emily, we’d love for you to start things off by telling us something about your industry that we and others not in the industry might be unaware of?
It’s not uncommon for piano teachers and teachers of other instruments to be asked what their “real” job is, or what they do for a living. Many people don’t treat music instruction as a respected profession and are unaware that it can be a full time job. People tend to consider teaching hours and nothing else, so a person who teaches twenty hours a week and considers herself a full time teacher seems odd. However, there are lots of prep and admin hours that go unnoticed, not to mention practice time, training, and professional development. Granted, some people do treat it as a hobby or as a supplement to other work. Many, however, make a good living teaching music lessons.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I am a musician and a teacher. I come from a family of teachers and consider myself a teacher first and foremost. Teaching an art, and to me it is even more consequential than my performance as a musician. In short, I take teaching seriously. So seriously that I almost didn’t get to do what I do.

I was always hard on myself as a teacher, and I didn’t want to do it unless I could be excellent, a teacher I could respect. By the time I graduated with a teaching degree I didn’t plan to teach because of the stress it caused me. After AmeriCorps brought me to Denver I eventually found myself back in the classroom because that’s what I was most qualified to do. I got my Master’s degree from CSU and started to gain confidence and even have a little fun teaching. My students taught me to be kind to myself.

When my school then shut down I went to teaching lessons full time, something I had never considered possible before. I loved the freedom of being able to teach exactly as I wanted and focus my attention on one student at a time. I feel I’m able to contribute the most to my community by having so much control over my business and being able to teach in my own quirky style.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I used to work at the Denver Zoo so I’d start with a personalized tour there, then hit up the Museum of Nature and Science to see the Russian gem carvings and a walk around the City Park lake. We’d eat buffalo seitan wings at City O’ City. The next day we’d have Sassafrass for breakfast, walk Clear Creek in Golden, and stop at the Mountain Toad for a beer. After that we’d take off for the mountains, heading to the Ouray hot springs, a Telluride music fest, Monument National Park, and Black Canyon of the Gunnison. That’s probably all the time we have, but come back soon because there’s so much more to see!

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
My shoutout is to Nicola Cantan of Colourful Keys. Although half a world away in Dublin, her website, giant library of games and resources, and podcast have become a huge source of teaching inspiration for me. I aspire to be more like Nicola as a teacher, role model, and business owner. Thank you for sharing your awesomeness!

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